The Drug Project
Independent scientific communication about drugs.
Articles
Cómo activar fármacos con luz para tratar enfermedades
¿Qué es la fotofarmacología y cómo puede tratar enfermedades?
Terapia fotodinámica: cómo curar el cáncer con luz
La terapia fotodinámica es una modalidad de tratamiento para el cáncer que consiste en la administración de fármacos que se activan mediante la aplicación de luz. ¿Cómo funciona esta terapia? ¿Cuáles son sus ventajas?
La ciencia del alcohol
Un repaso a la historia del alcohol y a lo que dicen los estudios científicos sobre el consumo de sustancia.
El origen chamánico de la Navidad
Vestidos de rojo y blanco, los chamanes del ártico comían y regalaban hongos alucinógenos con los que viajaban volando sobre sus renos
¿Caducan los medicamentos?
Seguro que alguna vez te lo has preguntado: ¿qué pasa si me tomo un medicamento que está caducado?¿Tienen los fármacos realmente una fecha de caducidad?
Medicina psicodélica contra la pandemia
La pandemia trae consigo una crisis psicológica a nivel mundial. ¿Estamos preparados? Nuevas investigaciones sugieren que las drogas psiquedélicas pueden ayudar a tratar las enfermedades mentales.
About the project
The Drug Project is a scientific communication project about drugs and our relationship with them. Our mission is to provide rational and high-quality evidence-based information related to drugs, their history, the way they were discovered and their impact in our society.
TheDrugProject recognizes the existence of ‘the drug problem’ derived from both recreational or therapeutic drug use, but we understand that there is a discrepancy between the perspective proposed by harm-reduction experts and the current prohibitionist policies that do not take into account scientific or medical issues.
Pharmacology is a key tool to achieve one of the most fundamental human rights: the highest possible health status. Therefore, we must promote community dialogue in order to equip our society with sensible and scientific knowledge about drugs. Thus, TheDrugProject produces independent content for a better-informed world through this corporate blog and other digital media platforms.
What are drugs?
From the dawn of human history, our species has been consuming therapeutic, recreational and sacramental drugs. The term <<drug>> is often associated with harmful and stigmatized stereotypes. However, a drug is any substance which, when administrated into the body, alters the normal functioning of the organism either physically and/or psychologically.
From a sociocultural perspective, what we consider drugs in colloquial language fits better to the term drugs of abuse: substances for non-medical use with psychoactive effects, i. e. drugs that alter our mind and behavior. In academic environments, the term <<drug>> is not limited to psychoactive drugs; on the contrary, drug is usually referred to as a more general term: bioactive substance, any given chemical molecule that reacts within us pharmacologically.
From a medical and scientific perspective, all bioactive substances, including prescription drugs and drugs of abuse —from alcohol to ibuprofen to cocaine—, should be labeled as drugs regardless of their legal status. In fact, many substances could be considered either as prescription drugs or as drugs of abuse depending on the context. For example, steroids are legal prescription drugs, but if they are used as performance-enhancing substances, then we would consider them as drugs of abuse.
About us
Enrique Ortega Forte, founder of TheDrugProject.
Biochemist by training, Enrique is currently conducting biomedical research in the Faculty of Chemistry at the University Murcia, where he develops novel anticancer drugs in order to establish new therapeutic strategies.
His international academic background in pharmacology-related disciplines has enabled this project to be started.
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